Ghanam, of Cranston, R.I., was appealing the Board of Health’s decision two months ago revoking those licenses because he allegedly sold packets of a synthetic marijuana product.

Macdonald said the store owner failed to show proof he’d prevail at trial.

“The plaintiff has not demonstrated a likelihood of success on the merits. The court is reluctant to interfere with the enforcement of the city’s public health ordinances and regulations absent a clear demonstration of the lack of a rational basis for such action,” read the brief of the ruling Clerk of Courts Marc Santos mailed to all parties.

Both Mayor Will Flanagan and Corporation Counsel Elizabeth Sousa hailed the judge’s decision as just, while Ghanam and his lawyer, John Mitchell, disputed the hardship imposed by the city.

While the store was not ordered to shut down, the Board of Health’s revocation, imposed in late November, bars the owner from applying for license reinstatement for one year.

Ghanam is able to sell cigarettes, stationary and non-food products, but not the full array of convenience store items.

Sousa said Ghanam applied last week to the head of the Health Department, Dr. Henry Vaillancourt, seeking license reinstatement.

Vaillancourt replied that the owner was unable to apply until a year after the revocation, Sousa said.

“I think the Board of Health decision was reasonable given the circumstances, given the egregiousness of his actions,” Sousa said.

“I think it was the right decision and consistent with the law,” she said.

“It confirms the city’s approach to people in any commercial stores that place these products on the shelves,” said Flanagan, who championed the effort to ban synthetic marijuana and bath salts last summer.

Three weeks after Ghanam opened his store, the City Council passed the ordinance on Aug. 31. The law made the sale and display of the products subject to police prosecution, with $300 fines and action by city licensing boards.

At a Nov. 7 hearing before the Board of Health, Sousa had Officer Luis Duarte Jr. of the Special Operations Division testify a drug informant bought a $15 package of the synthetic marijuana with potent effects packaged as incense in his store.

Duarte testified a court search warrant that day turned up 11 hidden packets of the substance.

He and Sousa also brought before the board dozens of drug paraphernalia products confiscated from the store.

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The Board of Health voted 3-0 for a one-year revocation after one member initially proposed suspending the licenses for 30 days.

“It’s going to cripple him and put him out of business,” Mitchell said.

“I’m still convinced it was a misunderstanding,” he said of Ghanam, who emigrated from Syria seven months ago.

“The city is working to revitalize the downtown and they’re putting a store owner out of business,” said Mitchell, who said he remained hopeful of “working something out with the city.”

He noted the short duration between when Ghanam opened the store and the ordinance’s passage.

His court complaint said the city failed to test the products. Sousa said that was customary procedure when police issue such charges.

Mitchell said he planned to meet today with Ghanam and the owner’s son from Rhode Island, who runs a couple of variety stores shops and has lived here longer, to decide how to proceed.

The city lawyer said he thought Judge Macdonald “deferred to the city,” and said with public health at stake, a higher standard of proof must be met by the defendant for there to be an injunction.

Sousa said she planned to move to dismiss the case.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do,” Ghanam said Thursday night at his store, which is open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

He showed a utility bill for $600, said fees for his lawyer are $3,000 and that he owes $2,000 in medical bills. He’s 63.

Expressing further hardships, he said two of his sisters in Syria had lost sons, in their 20s, during the ongoing civil war with the government.

“I can’t pay the rent. I’m losing money,” said Ghanam, who had one customer in a 15-minute period.

He said after paying $600 in fines for the synthetic marijuana ordinance violations, he faces court prosecution on Jan. 23 on the city drug paraphernalia charges; charges city police seldom prosecute.